Transportation service sector is one of the dominant sectors of national economy. Efficiency and performance of this sector greatly depends on the conditions of physical infrastructure and transport management. The division of ministry of physical infrastructure and transport are located within the Ministry and manned by the Joint Secretaries, Under Secretaries, Engineers, Section Officers and other supporting staffs. Some of the divisions are Administration Division, Foreign Aid and Quality Standards Division, Planning Monitoring and Evaluation Division, Work and Transport Division. Some of the departments and institutions under ministry are Department of Roads, Department of Transport Management, Department of Railways, Road Board Nepal and Nepal Engineering Council.
Source:
http://www.mopit.gov.np/
Vehicle overloading is one of the main problems related to the life of the road pavement and bridge structure. In most of the cases, the vehicle overloading is caused by freight vehicles, i.e., trucks, tipper-trucks, dump trucks etc. Vehicle overloading is taken as one of the causes for the premature failure of pavement which results in the huge amount of cost of pavement maintenance and vehicle operation. It has great economic impact related to the transport infrastructure as well as price of commodity. Therefore, control of vehicle overloading is being taken as one of the important provisions of transport regulation worldwide.
Some of the projects under Department of Local Infrastructure (DOLI) are Local Bridge Program- Phase IV, Small Irrigation Program- Phase I, Rural Village Water Resources Management Project Phase III, Provincial and Local Governance Support Program (PLGSP) and Provincial and Local Roads Construction and Improvement Porgram (PLRCIP).
Source:
https://doli.gov.np/doligov/
The government has allocated fund for Provincial and Local Road Construction and Improvement Program (PLRCIP) SINCE the Fiscal Year 2076-2077 (FY 2020/21). Ministry of Federal Affairs and General Administration (MoFAGA) and Department of Local Infrastructure (DOLI) are the implement partners. The key activities of the project are construction of one selected alignment to paved standard of all 283 LG centres that are yet to be connected, construction shall include natural crossings for due interconnection of Local-level administrative centres with national and provincial road networks year around, converting of all Fair-weather (no engineered) roads into all-weather (engineered) roads in a phased manner, internalize improvement of roads with inclusion of maintenance as the integral part and reduce technical and managerial capacity gaps of local levels.
As of mid-March, of fiscal year 2020/21, under the Safe Citizen Housing Program the roof replacement activity is ongoing in 143,218 houses of 753 local levels after fixing the number of houses at local levels for the replacement of thatched roof with zinc sheets. In fiscal year 2019/20, out of 14,019 beneficiaries selected under the Safe Citizen Housing Program, 805 beneficiaries received this facility. So far, 6,414 beneficiaries have received the facility from Safe Citizen Housing program.
As of mid-March of 2021, the total length of the road has reached 33,528 kilometers including 15,974 kilometers blacktop (including strategic and local road networks), 8,582 kilometers gravelled and 9,972 kilometers fair-weather. By mid-July 2020, there were 33,244 kilometers of roads including 15,424 kilometers blacktop, 8,622 kilometers gravelled and 9,198 kilometers of fair weather.
Road Expansion by Federal Government (in Kilometers)
| Details |
2015/16 |
2016/17 |
2017/18 |
2018/19 |
2019/20 |
2020/21 |
Total |
| Black Topped |
12173 |
12803 |
13707 |
14695 |
15424 |
550 |
15974 |
| Graveled |
6460 |
6822 |
7231 |
8594 |
8622 |
504 |
8582 |
| Earthen |
9675 |
9492 |
9150 |
9590 |
9198 |
284 |
8972 |
| Total |
28308 |
29117 |
30088 |
32879 |
33244 |
1338 |
33528 |
Source: Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport, 2021 * Till mid-March
Status of Road Expansion in Last Five Years
| Details |
Unit |
2015/16 |
2016/17 |
2017/18 |
2018/19 |
2019/20 |
2020/21* |
| New road construction |
KM |
639 |
809 |
971 |
440 |
365 |
284 |
|
Upgraded to Gravelled
|
KM |
345 |
992 |
1313 |
1363 |
757 |
504 |
|
Upgraded to black topped
|
KM |
264 |
630 |
904 |
988 |
729 |
550 |
| Road Maintenance (Regular) |
KM |
9200 |
9500 |
9500 |
14719 |
7200 |
7187 |
| Periodic Maintenance |
KM |
443 |
214 |
332 |
332 |
360 |
187 |
| Bridge construction |
Number |
63 |
72 |
82 |
230 |
210 |
129 |
Source: Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and Transport, 2021 * Till mid-March
As of mid-March 2021, a total of 63,577 kilometers of roads including blacktop, gravel and fair weather were constructed at the province and local levels. Of the total road construction, Bagmati province has the highest 24.7 percent and Karnali province the lowest 5.1 percent. The density of road in Bagmati province is highest whereas it is the lowest in Province 2.
Provincewise details of local Roads* (in kilometers)
| Province |
Earthen |
Graveled |
Black Topped |
Total Roads |
Provincewise Share
(in percent) |
Road Density |
| 1 |
9492 |
2522 |
768 |
12782 |
20.11 |
0.49 |
| 2 |
2733 |
2854 |
378 |
5965 |
9.38 |
0.62 |
| Bagmati |
11734 |
2690 |
1268 |
15692 |
24.68 |
0.77 |
| Gandaki |
9596 |
1252 |
646 |
11494 |
18.08 |
0.53 |
| Lumbini |
5428 |
2712 |
911 |
9051 |
14.24 |
0.41 |
| Karnali |
2969 |
209 |
89 |
3266 |
5.14 |
0.12 |
| Sudurpaschim |
3954 |
1158 |
214 |
5326 |
8.38 |
0.27 |
| Grand Total |
45906 |
13397 |
4274 |
63577 |
100 |
0.43 |
Source: Ministry of Federal Affairs and General Administration, 2021
As of mid-July of 2020, a total of 63321 kilometer of roads including fair weather, gravel and blacktop were constructed at province and local levels whereas during the mid-March of the current fiscal year an additional 256 kilometers of roads were constructed making a total of 63,577 kilometers of roads. Of the total constructed roads, the share of blacktop, gravel and fair-weather was 7.0 percent, 21.0 percent and roads 72.0 percent, respectively.
Details of Roads Constructed by Province and Local Levels (in kilometers)
| Deails of Roads |
2015/16 |
2016/17 |
2017/18 |
2018/19 |
2019/20 |
2020/21 |
| Earthen |
38940 |
42840 |
43190 |
43950 |
45693 |
45906 |
| Gravelled |
12513 |
12830 |
13160 |
13560 |
13416 |
13397 |
| Black Topped |
1857 |
2269 |
2735 |
3963 |
4212 |
4274 |
| Grand Total |
53310 |
57939 |
59085 |
61473 |
63321 |
63577 |
Source: Ministry of Federal Affairs and General Administration, 2021 *Till mid-March 2021
Of the total registered vehicles, bus, an important medium of public transportation is 1.4 percent and the share of two – wheeler motorcycles are 79.3 percent.
As per the government policy to encourage the production and use of electricity, the production and consumption of electricity is increasing. The access to electricity of the population has reached 93.0 percent with the increase of the electricity production. As of mid-July 2020, the access to electricity was 90.0 percent of the population.
Details of Provincewise Access to Electricity
| Province |
2018/19 |
2019/20 |
2020/21* |
| 1 |
75.9 |
86.3 |
82.43 |
| 2 |
79.77 |
87.25 |
99.05 |
| Bagmati |
90.3 |
95.83 |
94.44 |
| Gandaki |
87.39 |
87.48 |
92.79 |
| Lumbini |
81.03 |
89.07 |
91 |
| Karnali |
27.03 |
27.74 |
34.75 |
| Far West (Sudurpaschim) |
58.9 |
67.33 |
64.69 |
| Population having access of Alternative Energy 3.0 percent |
| Nepal (including alternative energy) |
88.0 |
90.0 |
93.0 |
Source: Nepal Electricity Authority, 2021 * Till mid-March
Source:
https://www.mof.gov.np/uploads/document/file/1633341980_Economic%20Survey%20(Engslish)%202020-21.pdf
Key Terms
• Projects under Department of Local Infrastructure
• Status of local and provincial roads
• Safe House Citizen Program
• Problems of vehicles
• Road Expansion
• Vehicle overloading
